Meet the team

Until 2023 she was the Principal Veterinary surgeon for Guide Dogs Victoria. Her focus and mission was preventative health care and up skilling staff. She is currently the Veterinarian on the Welfare advisory Committee for Guide dogs of Victoria.

She is the Founder and Probono CEO of the volunteer group Vets for Compassion. Her vision is to build sustainability and a strong ethical foundation, not to build an empire. She believes in equality within the organisation, a skilled and agile team that can respond quickly. Everyone in the organisation does work on the ground including Board members and herself.

She founded the very successful Train the Trainer Project in China ( 2009-2020). She is a volunteer veterinarian and darter in Victoria during emergencies such as fires and floods every year since 2009. During the devastating floods in Lismore in Feb 2022, she headed a 43- strong vet and nurse response team , assisting the DPI of NSW. She and her husband were also the First responders during the 2020 Mallacoota fires and the Koala Massacre in the gum Plantation in 2020. During the 2009 Black Saturday Fires, she initiated the formation of the Australian Veterinary Association Task Force and was responsible for assisting in the set-up of several triage centres as well as active search and rescue work in King Lake, Humevale, Wallan Kilmore Taggerty and Marysville.

She was active on the ground in the fires in Framingham ( 2007), Scotsburn (2016), Garfield/ Nar Nar Goon ( 2019), Ballarat ( 2024), Grampians 2025 She volunteers daily as a macropod Darter and Vet in Victoria, one of very few in Victoria who will volunteer their time to capture and treat injured and displaced large animals in Victoria on a daily basis. She also helps rescue and treat stray displaced and injured animals of all species in Melbourne.

Elaine was awarded the Belle Reid Medal by the University of Melbourne in 2009 for her significant contribution towards animal welfare in her pioneering projects and volunteer work. This award was bestowed to the top 100 women veterinarians in the world.

She was also awarded Boroondara Citizen of the Year in 202.

In 2023 she was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia Medal by the Governor General of Australia ( the AM) This is in recognition of her services to her pioneering animal rescue work during disasters in Victoria and New South Wales . In particular, this is for her leadership in recruiting motivating and training new Vets/nurses and other rescuers to form

effective and productive Response teams to assist stray and displaced animals on a daily basis and during disasters. She is also recognized for practical and her hands on work, on call 24 hours a day and 7 days per week. She and her husband Chris train new darters from within and outside the organisation, teaching skills and sharing resources with other groups

and rescuers in order that more animals that are in need can be safely and humanely captured and treated.